Election Commission Special Counsel Ballot Dispute... Ruling Party: "Prolonging Political Life"; Opposition: "Inadequate Evidence Preservation"

Ruling Party: "Jang Donghyeok's Election Fraud Incitement Knows No Bounds"
Opposition: "Procedural Legitimacy Should Have Been Ensured in the Public Verification"
Ruling and Opposition Parties Trade Barbs over Ballot Preservation and Filming

The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party traded barbs on October 31 over an evidence preservation issue that arose during the Election Commission special counsel team's public verification of ballots at Olympic Park.

In a written briefing that day, Lee Juhee, floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized People Power Party leader Jang Donghyeok, saying, "Stop immediately using the people's right to vote as political capital to prolong your own political life," and adding, "The incitement of election fraud claims knows no bounds."

Election Commission Special Prosecutor's Team Conducts Public Ballot Verification

Officials from the Election Commission special prosecutor's team, staff members and observers prepare for a public verification of ballots from the June 3 local elections at the Handball Gymnasium in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Oct. 28. (Oct. 28, 2026 / Photo by Joint Press Corps)

Responding to Jang's criticism of the special counsel's transfer of ballot boxes as "theft" and his claim that evidence of election fraud had disappeared, Lee asked, "What are we supposed to do if even the special counsel, whose members the People Power Party helped nominate, cannot be trusted?"

She continued, "Kicking aside even the verification process that the People Power Party helped establish is tantamount to throwing away its own qualification to lead a major political party," and urged the party to "abandon the absurd insistence that only its claims are true and everything else is a conspiracy."

By contrast, in a commentary that day, People Power Party spokesperson Ham Inkyung said, "We demanded that even ballots that drew no objections during the public verification be thoroughly preserved." She argued, "Evidence preservation is not something the People Power Party should have to demand repeatedly; it is a basic procedure that should have been taken for granted before the public verification."

Ham also criticized the special counsel's explanation of its preservation measures after the ballots had been removed, saying that "transparency and procedural legitimacy should have been ensured from the outset throughout the entire process of classifying, transporting and storing the evidence."

She also raised the issue of allowing broadcasters to film. Ham pointed out that lengthy requests were made on site to obtain permission to film during the public verification, and argued that, if it was to be public, the process should have been open enough for the public to properly observe it.

The Election Commission special counsel had earlier said it asked the National Election Commission to preserve ballots for which no objections had been raised during the public verification, as well as other ballots, in their current state in case further verification was needed later. The People Power Party had also demanded evidence preservation and tried to block the ballot boxes from being moved immediately after the verification ended.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.